


Sky-blue Chair (Sorairo no Isu)

by Asterne_In_a_Sky, MidoriKurenaiYume



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Characters as Cats, F/M, Fluff, No Dialogue, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-13 23:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15375960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterne_In_a_Sky/pseuds/Asterne_In_a_Sky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Irisviel's cat, Arturia, has an odd relationship with Gilgamesh, Tokiomi's cat.





	Sky-blue Chair (Sorairo no Isu)

**Author's Note:**

> Exploring a possible AU with GilArt as cats ;))
> 
> Title: from a very relaxing Kalafina song, part of the album 'Far on the Water' (translation found on Wikipedia :P)

…

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...

Arturia thought that, all considered, she had been rather lucky. The human who had chosen her, a woman who went by the name Irisviel, was a very kind one. Maybe a bit distracted and sometimes in need of a gentle nudge on her part to remember to turn off the dangerous stove, but a very kind person.

Irisviel obviously felt affection towards her, as she often played with her and loved to have her near her around the house, perhaps also because Arturia seemed to be alert at all times and gave a soft meow whenever Irisviel forgot about something important.

In many ways, Arturia reflected, the fact that such a human had chosen her among the cats at the shelter was a blessing. She was a rather stoic cat, not caring much for cuddles and rarely purring, which was sure to discourage most humans from taking a liking to her; it was therefore quite positive that Irisviel had more than enough enthusiasm for them both.

At the shelter, there hadn’t been much interest on the carers’ part towards them. Their names had been chosen early on, apparently based on historic figures; they were then given regular meals but otherwise left on their own. Most cats left little white Arturia alone, and she was content with it. She was the smallest of the group made of numerous kittens, yet also the fastest and always trying to challenge herself.

This had however attracted the attention of one specific kitten, the one considered the finest but the most aloof as well, as he generally repudiated any company and was apparently strong enough to enforce distance when others attempted to come close to him. He had soft, perfect orange fur and gleaming eyes that managed to intimidate all animals, humans included. Arturia hadn’t taken notice immediately, but she had first realized that Gilgamesh’s fire-eyes were concentrated on her when she devoured her food faster than any other kitten and even when she kept licking her empty bowl clean somewhat contritely. Seeing him observe her so closely had made her suspect that he had been a witness to her latest accomplishment.

Always attempting to learn and improve, Arturia had decided to reach the top of the gigantic sofa in the middle of one of the three living rooms the cats were held in. It had taken over an hour, as she had kept falling several times in a row and had had to begin the climb again and again. Her white fur had ended up being covered in dust, almost mingling with her soft grey stripes, but she hadn’t given up and had finally reached the top victoriously. She had thought she had felt eyes on her then, but had attributed it to the euphoria of having completed her quest. Her fluffy tail had been swishing happily as she had taken in the view from the top of the sofa, before jumping down and landing safely on all fours.

Perhaps she hadn’t been mistaken though, because from then on, she often felt – she brushed the feeling off, but then she usually _saw_ it as well – his fire-eyes lazily lingering on her, with something she could have called interest. However, as she couldn’t explain it and he never approached her, she disregarded it; she had after all many more quests on which she could embark.

Her exploration of her limits was cut short a few weeks later, when some humans came to examine the various animals with the intention of adopting some of them. The white-haired Irisviel had had no doubts and immediately chosen Arturia, right after a very elegant dark-haired man – who called himself Mr. Tokiomi – had picked the most unusual animal, who was Gilgamesh. Apparently he belonged to a ‘rare breed’, as they had called it, though Arturia noted that he hadn’t seemed to be particularly pleased with his new owner, deigning himself only to give him a haughty glance.

Irisviel had taken the time to make sure Arturia became acquainted with her new home, and the kitten hadn’t taken long to familiarize herself with the place – and with her duties, which she soon realized were going to be plenty. In spite of what her boundless energy could suggest, Arturia soon understood that Irisviel’s health was precarious and she often needed to take strong medicines that left her weakened for several days. She was worried about her human, but she could do nothing aside from keeping her company, and she did so very willingly.

Aside from dotingly spending time with her, Irisviel often received visits from other humans and liked to remain sitting for long hours, watching a strange multi-coloured box that seemed to change surface and that she had named television. She particularly enjoyed sitting on a sofa, caressing Arturia who stayed in her lap, as she watched long sequences of images with sounds, which humans called movies.

After learning everything she needed about Irisviel’s huge house – being particularly impressed by the large hall in the middle of it, whose French doors were always open towards the immense gardens – Arturia had started to cautiously venture outside in the large park, noticing that there were thick hedges separating it from confining properties.

There was a number of other big mansions surrounding them, and Arturia had seen that there were many other male cats, several of which had grown up in her same shelter. There were Iskandar – an energetic cat with brown-red fur – and Hercules – a large, dark and always brooding cat – and Lancelot, and Gawain, and many others. They often wandered around, taking advantage of Irisviel’s open doors and willing hospitality to snoop around the hall. Arturia was careful to stay away from them and their owners, especially from the closest neighbour, who happened to be Mr. Tokiomi.

While the others didn’t seem to mind their cats’ explorations, Mr. Tokiomi was against them and had verbally complained to Irisviel quite a few times. Irisviel had listened with patience and apologized, but there was nothing more she could do, because Mr. Tokiomi’s cat studiously ignored him and obviously did whatever he wanted.

Gilgamesh seemed to dislike being indoors, or at least inside Mr. Tokiomi’s house, as Arturia determined from seeing him constantly outside. He was either in Irisviel’s park or right on top of the hedge, fire-eyes lazily running over the other animals with disinterest, however always stopping when they found her. He then usually left his chosen spot and calmly found the shortest and most efficient route that would take him near her. While she never allowed him to come too close, she could not avoid him completely, and she had even started to see the advantage of his presence: with the barest movement of his tail whenever any other animal approached, he made sure they kept their distance.

Arturia wasn’t overly fond of the hall when there were other animals around, not just because of the smell, but also because she wasn’t fond of mingling with others in such a pointless way. And a few months after reaching adulthood, she had found another very persuasive reason to stay away from the other cats’ company.

Back at the shelter, she had not been the only female kitten, but the other one, a dark-grey cat called Medusa, had been adopted a few days before her, and she had told Arturia that she was going to be neutered immediately after being taken in. Irisviel had unfortunately forgotten about it, and it was something that Arturia wasn’t able to bring her attention to. Irisviel hadn’t done it on purpose, but she probably wasn’t aware of the fact that her female cat would go in heat and, if she didn’t mate, it was going to be an extremely painful process for her.

Arturia didn’t have the slightest intention of having kittens of her own or just mating in the first place, but she didn’t have any power against her nature either. The problem with heat was that the other animals, in particular the other male cats, could smell it. That was the main reason why she avoided the hall as much as possible.

Even though she obviously didn’t understand the reason for it, Irisviel had noticed her discomfort and prepared a different room upstairs, more secluded, for her sole use. She had also seen that Arturia seemed to prefer the colour blue, and had therefore filled the room with as many objects in that colour as possible. Arturia’s favourite was a sky-blue armchair, extremely comfortable without being too soft and placed next to the fireplace, where she had always found the best sleep. The door could be closed and the other animals weren’t able to open it, which meant that she could have peace, quiet, rest and solitude whenever she wished for it. Her human was perhaps forgetful, but truly kind to her.

The room was her designated place to be when she felt her heat about to overcome her. It was an extremely uncomfortable sensation when it started, but it only became worse as time passed and she didn’t mate with anyone. Perhaps there were human medicines that would have helped her go through the pain, yet not having the possibility to communicate with her human made it impossible to ask for aid. Besides, if she left the room in those conditions, one of the other animals would notice and be on her in a matter of seconds. And in her state, she would be unable to fight back.

So she endured the pain of her heat when it happened, staying curled up on her favourite sky-blue chair, squirming, trembling and occasionally being unable to stifle her pained meows. She was proud of herself for not giving in to the desires of her body, and even though the pain was unbearable at times, she resisted it.

She didn’t fail to notice how sometimes, right after her heat, the male cats gave her interested stares or sniffs, but she ignored them. When some tried to follow her around, she made sure to use her claws effectively, because she did not intend to allow them to take any liberties.

What did catch her attention was the fact that Gilgamesh seemed to do the opposite. Instead of being more around her after her heat, he seemed to come closer _before_ it, as if he knew when it was going to happen. He was the only one who had brushed against her a few times, which had made her hiss at him and once even graze the side of his face with her claws. To her confusion, he had not seemed to mind her aggressiveness at all; on the contrary, he had appeared to be more eager, purring contentedly at her.

Irisviel had taken notice of the odd hostility she felt towards Mr. Tokiomi’s cat, but hadn’t seemed concerned. In fact, she had even intervened and caressed Arturia to calm her after she had scratched him, forcing her to keep her cool as she didn’t want to accidentally harm her human.

Gilgamesh had stared into her green eyes intently for a moment and then had settled down in a relaxed sitting position in front of her, starting to lick his paws leisurely. He had looked content and oblivious at first glance, but his fire-eyes were watching her, very carefully.

If she hadn’t known any better, Arturia – and Irisviel, who had noticed – could have sworn there was a glimmer of possessiveness and _affection_ in that gaze.

…

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…

Arturia had always been fond of her sky-blue chair, and that meant that her forced rest on it wasn’t too much of a bother. It was good that it was so large and comfortable, but also far enough from the door and the windows.

Gilgamesh was sitting on the nearest windowsill, looking satisfied and pleased. He was staying still, observing Arturia keenly, knowing that she wouldn’t have tolerated him coming any closer, but also knowing that she wasn’t going to try and make him leave.

Irisviel had left the room just a short while before after cooing and caressing the kittens for a while, giving Gilgamesh a nervous glance since he had watched her like a hawk the whole time she had remained near Arturia. She was lying down on the armchair, on her side, her five kittens cuddling under her belly as she protectively held them close. She seemed to be asleep, but she did occasionally open her eyes, and she never forgot to send a glare in his direction.

From downstairs they could hear the faint sounds of voices, both knowing that they belonged to Irisviel and Mr. Tokiomi. He had been rather angry – at least for human standards – when he had realized that Arturia was going to have Gilgamesh’s – _his_ precious Gilgamesh’s – kittens, and had somehow gotten the idea into his head that Irisviel had made the two cats mate on purpose. Irisviel was always unfailingly polite when facing his verbal attacks, while Gilgamesh had replied to his tirade by ignoring him and simply moving into Irisviel’s mansion.

While Arturia refused to be near him and her wanderings became limited as the kittens grew inside her, making her spend her time in the most comfortable positions on the sky-blue chair, he always secured the position that was closest to her without being in close range of her claws. Arturia was furious at him, but that wasn’t enough to make him stay away, and since Irisviel had realized that there was a strange connection between the two cats, she hadn’t attempted to separate them. A factor that contributed was that she was slightly intimidated by the orange cat with fire-eyes, and once she became aware of the fact that Arturia was getting bigger because she was pregnant, it didn’t take her long to figure out whose kittens she was carrying.

It wasn’t an easy birth, as Arturia wasn’t able to move at all and kept meowing softly in pain the whole time while the vet was on his way. Irisviel remained next to her, frantic with worry, crying and apologizing, promising that she was going to have her neutered as soon as she recovered. The first two kittens were born almost without heartbeat, but Arturia caringly set out to revive them, gently pulling them close to her as the vet arrived and helped her give birth to the other three. They were all different from one another, and all a curious mix of their parents’ traits.

The birth had weakened her so much that the vet recommended Irisviel to make Arturia rest and not let her stand nor move around for at least a week. Knowing of Arturia’s preference for the sky-blue chair, Irisviel had moved her there, with as much care as possible, not wanting to hurt her beloved cat. She had been taken aback at finding Gilgamesh there, obviously waiting for her and clearly meaning to make good use of Arturia’s inability to move by remaining close. He hadn’t even spared the human a glance, his fire-eyes remaining focused on Arturia’s prone form and the five bundles attached to her belly.

Arturia had been barely conscious for the following hours, drifting in an out of sleep, only thinking of her kittens and occasionally drinking and eating gratefully when Irisviel left her food nearby. It had taken her a few days to manage to stay awake long enough to realize that it wasn’t always Irisviel who left her food; Gilgamesh had brought her a few things as well.

He had even managed an almost miraculous equilibrium exercise, bringing her her water bowl and a smaller one full of milk as well. Furthermore, he had chosen to do so while she was asleep, obviously conscious of her fury. While it wasn’t enough to make him stay away, he had not disregarded it.

Being awake and forced into a still position, Arturia had leisure to observe her surroundings, which included him. She spent most of her time focused on her kittens, licking them clean and holding them close. She had never been the most affectionate of cats, but she curled around her small ones protectively; they were so young, they hadn’t even opened their eyes yet. Gilgamesh didn’t purr nor did he make any other sounds, simply remaining sitting on the windowsill, his tail occasionally making a brief movement around him and his eyes never leaving her for long.

It occurred to Arturia that while she was forced to lie down, he was under no obligation of remaining nearby. He had a bowl full of water as well and Irisviel brought food for him too, but he was spending his time fussing over her as much as her human, with the only difference that he did it from a distance.

Speaking of her human, she had the distinct impression that Gilgamesh regarded Irisviel with indifference most of the time, but recently she had seen him look at her with some slight disdain as well. She gathered it had something to do with the names Irisviel had chosen for the kittens.

She had been caressing Arturia’s head slowly and carefully, knowing that her cat had never been fond of pampering and was now a mother, therefore instinctually protective of her little ones even over her human. She had then commented on the fact that Gilgamesh was watching over the adorable kittens as well and suggested he come closer, which had however made Arturia snap her head back and hiss, almost biting Irisviel’s hand on accident. It had made Irisviel startle, as she had always known Arturia to be calm and composed, and that had then prompted her to avoid trying to understand the dynamics between the two adult cats and focus instead on the young ones, choosing their names.

While Arturia didn’t agree with Gilgamesh’s dislike for Irisviel, she had to admit that the names chosen for her kittens were at least odd, if not completely ridiculous. Her human was watching far too many movies, as the names were famous and had come from colourful images she had seen on the television screen. Mr. Tokiomi had later heard the names as well, and had ridiculed them, which had made Irisviel’s temper flare and she had entered a heated debate with him in order to defend them.

Out of every list of names she could have chosen from, after careful deliberation and after muttering to herself for a good three hours, Irisviel had selected Loki, Wanda, Shuri, Steve and Gamora.

Arturia closed her eyes again after having examined the kittens attentively once more. She knew that this time Irisviel wasn’t going to forget to neuter her, which meant that these were the only kittens she was ever going to have, and while she had never wanted any, she intended to protect them while they were under her care. Contrary to what most humans did, Irisviel had already hinted at the fact that she intended to keep all of them – in spite of Mr. Tokiomi’s loud protests, who claimed he had the right to at least two – and perhaps even adopt Gilgamesh, as he seemed to spend more time at her mansion than at Mr. Tokiomi’s either way. Arturia did not know how that discussion had ended, but she doubted they had reached an agreement.

She opened her eyes briefly again when she felt the sky-blue armchair shift slightly, and wasn’t entirely surprised at seeing Gilgamesh approach her, with some caution but clearly with purpose as well, not in the mood to be sent away easily. He looked at the kittens almost as much as he looked at her, and there wasn’t anything hostile in his gaze, quite the opposite. He knew as well as she did that she wasn’t going to have anyone’s kittens aside from his, and this knowledge seemed to make him extremely smug.

What he probably didn’t know was that if he kept staying around Arturia, Irisviel planned on catching him during his sleep and neuter him too if she managed to adopt him, just to be safe. Arturia decided not to disclose this to him, at least for the time being.

She was still extremely angry at him. He had taken advantage of her heat to mate with her.

She would have probably been more furious if she had believed he had done it for his own personal satisfaction, but she knew that this wasn’t true. He had been staring at her already when they had been kittens and had lingered around her often as their humans had decided to adopt them later. She knew that he had smelled her heat and, judging from the fact that he knew about her favourite room, he had probably also heard how painful her heat was for her; she knew that some cats could even die during heat if they didn’t manage to obtain any relief. She had been forced to recognize that he had actually been _helping_ her – even though he had done so _very_ eagerly.

The fact that he kept lingering around her and her – their – kittens appeared to be a way of sending a message. He seemed to care, not only about her, but about the kittens as well, which was extremely unusual for a male cat.

As he stopped near her and studied her briefly, obviously determining what her reaction was going to be, she decided she could allow it. Therefore, she closed her eyes and let out a low purr, signalling that she was going back to sleep.

It wasn’t an explicit invitation, but she was telling him that she accepted his presence near her.

She distantly heard the door open again as Irisviel came in, and as she moved only slightly to lick a couple of gulps from the water bowl, she took distractedly notice of Gilgamesh using his paw to swat – oddly mildly – Irisviel’s hand away as she tried to caress her and the kittens. Irisviel mumbled a short protest but then let it go, leaving them some more food before beaming at Arturia’s half-lidded eyes.

Arturia blearily noticed Gilgamesh softly beginning to groom her fur, tongue caringly passing over her, his paws gentle as they held her head in place and his touch feeling a lot like loving human caresses.

As he protectively curled around her, his thick orange surrounding her pearly white and their kittens safely held by them both, Arturia slowly let herself drift off to sleep.

...

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…

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: the milk kitten!Arturia drinks is cat milk, not normal milk as most cats can’t digest lactose. Also, while this short story is inspired by real-life cats, it’s a fanfic, so there are things that are completely invented and NOT true about cats.
> 
> Asterne_In_a_Sky:  
> In case you were wondering about how Cat!Gilart would look like, [here](http://christinethethunnus.tumblr.com/post/175712282227/gilart)'s a link ;) (sadly their kittens aren't with them, but we all know Loki will have Arturia's eyes and black fluffy fur :p  
> ([here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/179583813020/sky-blue-chairsorairo-no-isu) on tumblr on our joint account)
> 
> MidoriKurenaiYume: we mixed together ideas we had on our own about a Cats!AU, and it was so much fun! I liked the idea of Irisviel as a Marvel fan (or rather, MCU fan), so that's what inspired the kittens' names ;)  
> Thank you so much for reading!!!


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